


Five Nights

by Heliocat



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Comfort, Cute, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Hugs, Innocence, M/M, Male Friendship, Nightmares, No Smut, Road Trips, Shounen-ai, Sleeping Together, Sleepy Cuddles, Teenagers, Trucks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:01:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23775016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heliocat/pseuds/Heliocat
Summary: A road trip to California. Five nights. A truck bed. Nightmares. And a Japanese boy who doesn't mind showing his friends comfort in times of need.Fluffy, no smut, but several cuddles and lots of cuteness.
Relationships: Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji/Shorter Wong
Comments: 15
Kudos: 185





	Five Nights

**Author's Note:**

> True story: Nick Frost and Simon Pegg (of Cornetto trilogy and Spaced fame) used to share a single bed in harder times. They started out top-and-tailing, but it didn't take long for them to shirk off the shackles of toxic masculinity and start sleeping snuggled together. Despite being only friends, they have remained close and cuddly since, and it's adorable. I was more than a little inspired by this idea for this fic.  
> Also, lockdown has left me feeling rather more inspired than usual... really churning out the fanfics recently, mainly Banana Fish because it's my current obsession, but... hope you all are staying safe and healthy!
> 
> Please note, anything written <"like this"> is Eiji talking in Japanese, and there's one sentence of Cantonese written ["like this"]. I'm English, so I use British spelling. And it's rated T for a little bit of language.
> 
> Many thanks to Akimi Yoshida for creating Banana Fish - this is a work of fanfiction, so I own none of the intellectual property.

** NIGHT ONE **

The first night in the truck, they slept top-to-tail.

Max and Ibe had taken the driver and passenger seats respectively upon leaving New York, leaving the truck bed for the three teenagers to spread out in for the overnight ride to the Cape. Ash and Ibe would swap nearer their destination so he could navigate, but Max was confident he knew the way to Falmouth at least, so the three teens relinquished the marginally more comfortable cab seating to the older males. Ibe could sleep practically anywhere, and had slumped against the seatbelt snoring fairly early on in their journey. Plus, while they could all drive, Max was the only one old enough and with a valid license to drive a hire vehicle anyway.

There wasn’t too much room in the back of the truck once you factored in the luggage and supplies for the five of them, but with blankets spread out over the floor for comfort they could all just about fit with a couple of inches between them. While Shorter and Ash knew each other better than brothers, they had held true to a solid ‘no homo’ rule since leaving juvie, with the closest things to intimacy they had done being fistbumps, high-fives, and occasionally rough-housing. Then there was Eiji. While both of them liked Eiji well enough, he was a foreigner and a stranger to their midst. Ash had told Shorter privately that he found him ‘cute and intriguing’, but neither of them really knew anything about him and, what with him being Japanese, he seemed to be very reserved. Ash said he had gone stiff as a board and taken on the startled expression of a rabbit in headlights when he had kissed him in jail – he genuinely felt bad about resorting to borderline sexual assault with the wholly innocent Eiji, but it was a necessary evil at the time. He hoped Eiji harboured no hard feelings about it, although if he did he was hiding them well.

Eiji, being the smallest of the trio, strafed the right wall of the truck, laying on his side and facing away from the other two. Ash took the middle, back to back with Eiji, curled up in a fetal position, and Shorter sprawled out in the remaining space to the left. Shorter’s sleeping positions never looked especially comfortable; it was a miracle the human body could contort itself into some of them. It was no wonder he woke up with back pain sometimes. Ash had once joked that you could predict the weather from them.

It only took one night for them to realise top-and-tail sleeping wasn’t going to work.

Ash suffered horrible nightmares most nights, moaning and thrashing in his sleep. He kicked Shorter hard in the head, rudely awakening him.

[”OW! SHIT – WHAZZAT?”] Shorter cursed in Cantonese as he was suddenly and violently roused from slumber by a foot to the temple. “Ash! What gives, bro?!”

“…nooo…. No stop…. Zzz”

“Aww jeez, you still having those…” Shorter’s rage dissipated instantly once he realised what had happened.

The noise was what awoke Eiji. Bleary eyed and still groggy, he pushed himself up and peered at Shorter. <”Whazz goin’ on…?”> he mumbled in Japanese.

“Nothing. It’s OK,” Shorter whispered, assuming the meaning behind his slurred foreign words. “Go back to sleep.”

“I heard noise,” Eiji murmured, sounding more coherent.

Shorter sighed. “Ash kicked me in the night. No biggie.”

“…fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck… go away…… n… noooo….”

“Ash is having nightmare,” Eiji observed.

“He’s had them as long as I’ve known him,” Shorter explained. “In juvie, he put on a hard front, showed no fear of anything or anyone, but I shared a cell with him. At night, the demons always come. Poor guy has dealt with some shit in his time.”

“We should wake him,” said Eiji, concerned.

“No. Do not,” Shorter warned.

“But, he scared…?”

“He won’t thank you for it,” Shorter said. “He is one mean mofo when he first wakes up. He’ll probably just hit you or worse. Trust me on this one… leave him be.”

Eiji made an unhappy sounding noise, like he was about to disagree, but he let the issue slide. They both watched Ash for the next ten minutes, during which time the nightmare subsided and he became silent and peaceful again.

“Looks like the worst had passed,” said Shorter. “He should sleep through now.”

“Poor Ash…” Eiji murmured. “I cannot imagine what he been through to have dream like that.”

“I don’t even wanna imagine it,” Shorter said darkly. He snuggled back down onto the blankets, rolling over to face the wall. “Next time, we sleep side-by-side. I don’t really fancy getting kicked in the face again. ’Night Eiji.”

<”Good Night.”>

Eiji observed Ash for a while longer before settling back down to sleep.

** NIGHT TWO **

Ash initially argued against sleeping side-by-side, until Shorter explained he had kicked him pretty hard in the night and, the next time he did it, Shorter wouldn’t hesitate to kick him back. Ash then shrugged, accepted it, and said it would probably beat sleeping by not just one, but two people’s cheesy feet all night. It didn’t become an issue until they left the Cape anyway; they had three days of decent sleep in their own space at Ash’s old place before making a run for it in the dead of night. That night none of them slept.

Parked up in a lay-by somewhere in Pennsylvania, they slept in the same formation as the first night, Eiji facing the wall on the right, Shorter to the left, also facing the wall, Ash in the middle between them with his back to Eiji, only this time all three of them had their feet pointing towards the rear door. They kept as much distance between them as the space would allow.

Events panned out in a similar fashion to the first night. Ash began moaning around 2am, his quiet noises of discomfort and his jostling on the unstable truck bed waking first Eiji, when he semi-rolled into him and nudged him awake, then Shorter.

“He have nightmare again…” Eiji said sadly.

“Just one night,” Shorter whined. “Please. Whatever God exists – let my buddy catch a break just for once!”

Eiji watched as Ash curled in on himself, shaking, drenched in a cold sweat. He reached out a hand…

“Don’t…” Shorter warned him again. “You wake him, I warn you, he will at least half-kill you.”

“I have to do something…” Eiji whispered.

He gently rested a hand on Ash’s shoulder. Almost instantly, Ash relaxed. He gradually stopped shaking, his moaning petering out into quiet whimpers, and then silent save for a relaxed deep breathing.

“Fuck me, dude!” Shorter said, slightly awed. “You have magic hands!”

“I just tell him he not alone…” Eiji murmured. “I do nothing special.”

“Hey, last time I touched him in his sleep, he almost snapped my arm in two,” Shorter shrugged. “I’m telling ya – magic hands!”

“I do not think he as dangerous as everyone claim,” Eiji said, smiling slightly.

“I’m questioning if you are brave, stupid, or a terrifying combination of the two,” Shorter replied. “This is Ash Lynx we are talking about here.”

“He still human,” Eiji reasoned. He removed his hand and settled back down, only this time he was facing Ash instead of the wall. <”Good night.”>

“’Night, Eiji.”

** NIGHT THREE **

The third night when they settled for the night in a trailer park on the border of Illinois and Indiana, Eiji opted to be more social and fell asleep facing the other two instead of the wall. Otherwise, they were the same as normal. And like clockwork, Ash became a slave to his personal demons in the early hours of the morning. At some point in his sleep, he had rolled over and was now facing Eiji instead of Shorter.

Shorter woke first, a fairly light sleeper by nature anyway, followed by Eiji, who was a little surprised to find himself waking up face to face with Ash. He was so close, he could almost count every blonde eyelash glistening in the moonlight.

“Again… seriously man!” Shorter moaned.

“He seem so strong in day, but at night…”

“Everything comes out in the dark,” Shorter said wisely. “Hey – try your magic hand trick again, see if it works!”

“It not magic hand…” Eiji whispered, but he tried it anyway. Ash once again quietened down.

“Voodoo witchcraft, I say,” Shorter sniggered. “’Night Eiji.”

<”Good night.”>

Eiji went to remove his hand, as before, but as he did Ash began murmuring something in his sleep, the nightmare threatening to return. He returned it to his shoulder and he calmed down again. Eiji contemplated for a moment the pros and cons of what he was considering doing next. On the one hand, it would keep Ash calm and peaceful all night. On the other hand, when he awoke in the morning and found Eiji with a hand on him… how would Americans react to that? Ibe had told him Americans were more touchy-feely than Japanese anyway. Maybe he’d think nothing of it? But it was also Ash; Eiji wasn’t scared of him, but he was still unpredictable and might react badly.

The pros of Ash sleeping soundly outweighed all the cons in his mind.

He lay down, his hand still resting comfortably on Ash’s arm, and settled back into sleep.

*

Ash woke up about an hour later, the noise of some form of wildlife outside screeching rousing him. Groggy, to start with he sensed rather than felt that something was different. He kept his eyes closed for a while, trying to figure out what was odd.

Weight. That was it. A very slight warm weight was on his upper arm.

Someone’s hand.

Normally, he would have panicked; when a hand was on him and he was asleep, it was usually the hand of a pervert. However, right now, he felt strangely safe, at peace. It was pleasant.

He forced his eyes open to find himself laying incredibly close to Eiji, the Japanese teenager’s arm resting lightly on top of him.

‘Oh. He must have rolled over in the night,’ Ash thought logically. Up close, Eiji looked astonishingly young. Despite being nineteen, only a couple of months younger than Shorter, he looked about fifteen when awake. Asleep, he looked younger again, like a pre-teen. Ash wasn’t sure if his appearance was more an illusion rather than genetics – he was so incredibly innocent and naïve of the world, inquisitive and curious like a kitten, giving him an air of immaturity. It was so genuine too – Ash had met several people who acted young and he trusted none of them. With Eiji, however, you automatically lowered your defences around him. He had a strangely soothing aura about him, completely non-threatening and calm.

Gently, Ash pushed his arm from off of him. Eiji murmured slightly in his sleep and shifted position at the movement, but he didn’t wake up. Instead, he seemed to subconsciously bundle in closer to Ash, curling slightly into the void by his chest. Ash blushed slightly… he was so close, he could feel the heat radiating off his lean frame. He kind-of missed the sensation of the hand on his shoulder now it was gone, but it was for the best. Eiji would no doubt have been embarrassed in the morning. He would rather not destroy the friendship they had started to build with any awkwardness. He didn’t make any attempt to move further away from him though. Besides, he could feel Shorter sprawled out up against his back – there was nowhere he could move to, squished tight between them.

Ash accepted his lot with a contented sigh and drifted back off to sleep.

He had no idea that the hand had been placed there on purpose.

** NIGHT FOUR **

Max stopped somewhere on the roadside in the arse-end of Kansas. He had gotten bored of driving long, straight roads with nothing to see for miles around but corn, wheat, an occasional field of sunflowers, and endless sky. They were currently parked under a billboard advertising a McDonalds restaurant about 70 miles away, an indication of exactly how remote this area of the States was.

Shorter was once again the first to wake with Ash’s nightmare lamentations. Surprisingly, Eiji didn’t hear them – the Japanese boy was in a pretty deep sleep, back to them again, when Ash started up his nightly fight. He didn’t stay that way long however.

Ash gave a cry and grabbed out in his sleep for something, and the something he found was Eiji. He wrapped a strong arm around him and pulled him in tight, curling around him. Eiji awoke with a start; Shorter had to try very hard not to laugh at how startled he was. Ash had a point when he said the kid looked like a rabbit in headlights. He gave a quiet squeal of surprise as Ash caught him suddenly in a vice-like grip, freezing up with shock.

<”What the…!”>

“Eiji… stay still!” Shorter hissed. “It’s just Ash.”

<”What?”> He finally gained enough consciousness and reason to understand his position. He was pinned down, Ash holding him around the chest tightly, spooning him from behind. He could feel Ash physically shaking, his face buried in the nape of his neck. He had, however, stopped moaning and thrashing. Clarity brought with it acceptance. “Oh…”

“I’ll try and get him off you,” Shorter said. “Stay still, I’ll try and lift his arm. If he wakes up and lashes out, I’ll take the brunt of it.”

“No,” Eiji said quietly. “It OK. Let him sleep.”

“Eiji, have you seen what you two look like?”

“I no care,” Eiji said dismissively. He could feel Ash relaxing, his shaking calming. He wasn’t holding him quite so desperately now. “If Ash feel safe, then it OK.”

“Are you sure…?”

“It not like we lovers, Shorter,” Eiji murmured sleepily. “If it help Ash sleep, I feel better too.” Apparently, they had seriously misunderstood Eiji’s tolerance for intimacy. That, or he was so kind and gentle he would rather put up with the discomfort of someone being physically close to him so they could be peaceful rather than disturb them.

“He’s gonna be embarrassed in the morning, dude,” Shorter shrugged. “Your call though.”

Eiji’s reply was a quiet snore. He’d already fallen back to sleep.

*

Ash woke second in the morning, feeling warm and cozy, nestled close to something soft and comforting… and breathing. He opened his eyes to find himself wrapped around Eiji. He had an arm thrown over his chest and their legs were intermingled. Eiji was sleeping peacefully, his arms tucked up by his face, hair mussed and fluffy.

“Oh God…” Ash murmured, when he realised how he was lying.

“Morning sunshine,” Shorter said smarmily. He was sat, back up against the wall of the truck, a sunbeam shining playfully on his shaven head. “Sleep well?”

Ash gently disentangled himself, feeling uncharacteristically flustered. “How… how long was I…?”

“Since about 1.30am,” Shorter said honestly. “You had a nightmare and grabbed him in your sleep.”

“Oh fuck!” Ash moaned. “Does he…?”

“Yep. He woke up when you latched on.”

“Shit…” Ash swore. “Why didn’t either of you wake me?”

“And risk your wrath? No thanks, dude – I’ve seen Bones’ teeth!” Shorter shrugged. “Besides, he wouldn’t let me disentangle you.”

“Jesus… What must he think of me? I kiss him and fondle his ass in jail, and now I cuddle him in the night? I barely know him! What kind of perverted bastard am I?”

“One that seems to be overthinking things,” Shorter shrugged. “I think he kinda enjoyed it, to be honest. He said something about it making him feel better if it helped you sleep.”

Ash stared at Eiji. He was sleeping pretty tranquilly for someone who’d been lightly sexually harassed in the night, so maybe Shorter had a point. Or maybe they’d misjudged the depravity of Japanese people… this was the country that had created hentai after all. They came across as coy and shy, but maybe a hug was nothing to them when they were pretty open about buying used panties from vending machines and sticking monstrous sea life in their hoo-hahs. Compared to that, a kiss was worth less than a handshake. Most likely, though, Eiji had simply read nothing sexual into his advances and had just accepted them as a friend, which in many ways made him more mature than either Ash or Shorter, who immediately squirmed at the idea of breaking their ‘no homo’ intimacy rule. 

“He’s far too innocent,” Ash muttered. “It’s not natural.”

“Or maybe we’re not innocent enough?” Shorter suggested bluntly.

“That’s more likely,” Ash agreed. “My innocence left when I was eight, so… yeah. Not the best judge here.”

** NIGHT FIVE **

They found themselves at a camp site in Utah, which allowed them access to showers and proper bathrooms. The showers were grimy, coated in mould and moss, but it beat wiping the worst of the sweat off with baby wipes and a damp flannel like they had been doing. Being clean brought with it its own unique relaxation that only a hot shower and a fresh pair of underwear can provide. All three of them fell asleep in record time.

For the first time in many months, Ash didn’t have any nightmares. Shorter awoke at 4.15am with a mighty need to empty his bladder, realising then how quiet the night had been. He glanced over at his two bedfellows, to find they had somehow meshed together overnight. Eiji and Ash faced each other, Eiji curled up against Ash’s chest and Ash with one arm over Eiji, their legs entwined. It was hard to tell where one ended and the other began, both of them wearing serenely calm expressions. Ash was actually smiling slightly in his sleep, a rare expression to see on him even when awake. It was cute. He normally had a resting bitch face. Shorter couldn’t be sure if either of them were aware of the position they were in, but judging by the fact the night had been silent, it was unlikely. One or both of them had obviously rolled into the other’s arms - probably Eiji, judging from the position - and the rest had come naturally.

“No homo indeed,” Shorter snorted, but he felt a little bit left out. Ash had never been like this with him… that’s just not what guys did unless they were… well, he respected Ash’s space. Ash had enough of that shit from depraved fat rich pricks who paid for the privilege, he didn’t need his best friend adding to his issues. They’d pushed each other away.

But may it have helped him if he could have been like Eiji to him?

He climbed back into the back of the truck after his brief visit to the campsite loos. He hovered over the two sleeping boys, hesitating before making his next move, macho sensibilities fighting with his more familial desires until the latter won.

“Fuck it…” he muttered. He lay down next to Ash, an arm over his best friend in a gentle embrace. It felt right, like hugging a family member. Like hugging his sister, only it was Ash. He fell asleep within two minutes of settling back down.

*

It was Max who found the trio snuggled together at daybreak. He expected they would arrive in California later that day, probably towards the early evening, so this would be their last night together in the truck. He smiled at what he saw.

“Hey, Shunichi… quick. Bring your camera and be quiet,” he whispered to Ibe. The soft-spoken Japanese man had been taking holiday-style snaps during their road trip, mainly for Eiji’s sake but also for his article. What better way to find out the truth behind the street kids of New York than by taking a road trip with two of them? The more age-appropriate side of Ash and Shorter could be seen in many of his photos of them laughing and joking around as they hung out at Cape Cod and journeyed crossed America, as opposed to the hard-faced, intimidating adult stares they used towards strangers back in their hideout.

“What is problem, Max?” Ibe said. “Why do you need camera?”

Max pointed in the truck as his answer. Eiji was curled up tight against Ash, Ash holding him close, and Shorter spooning both of them, curled against Ash’s spine, his long arms stretching over protectively. All three were in a deep sleep.

“Oh my! They look like cats!” Ibe said. He raised his camera and took a couple of quick, candid snaps.

Ash started moving at the sound of the camera whirring. Thankfully for the two men, he woke up slowly, which gave them chance to hide the camera. He was always in a bad mood first thing. You could almost hear the computer start-up jingle play as he booted up for the day. They would show them the photo later, when it would be safer.

“Morning Ash,” Max said cheerfully, lowering the truck tailgate as he saw him awaken so he could grab a nearby box of supplies. “You look comfortable, at least. Sleep well?”

“Fuck off, Pops,” he said, but it was an automatic response with no rancour behind it.

“Breakfast in ten, alright?” Max said, before leaving them alone.

Ash was wedged pretty firmly with Eiji pressed up in front and Shorter draped over him from behind. Well, that explained why he felt secure. Still, he figured there were worse ways to wake up than in a sandwich with his best friend and closest confident one side, and a Japanese tourist who was too cute for his own good and who just accepted him without asking for anything in return on the other. It had been one of the most restful nights of sleep he had had in a long while.

“You guys are very warm…” he muttered, pushing Shorter off himself with a grunt. “Get off me, you lump!” The large Chinese boy responded with a groan.

“Mmmmm… mornin’ darling,” he said sarcastically, half asleep.

“I thought we agreed no homo,” Ash said bluntly. He didn’t sound angry. If anything, he sounded content, like a weight had lifted from their relationship.

“If Eiji gets a cuddle, I want one too,” Shorter murmured drowsily. Ash snorted in laughter. The ‘no homo’ rule had been a load of bullshit forced on them by society anyway. 

Their talking and movement had disturbed Eiji, who uttered something to himself quietly in Japanese.

<”Five minutes more, Mum…”>

“You, my fine foreign fella, have a lot to answer for,” Ash muttered at him with a smile before shaking him roughly. “Wakey wakey! Rise and shine, sleeping beauty!”

<”Wha… what time is it?”> Eiji croaked woozily. He peered upwards through unfocused eyes. “Ash?”

“Good morning starshine, the Earth says hello!” Ash said with a smirk, pulling on his shoes. He climbed out of the truck. “Max says breakfast is ready soon. So get up. Both of you! Or I will eat all the bacon.”

“Touch my bacon, you die Lynx!” Shorter threatened him, his voice now clear and free of sleepiness as he sat upright and put on his shades.

“I’d like to see you try, Wong,” Ash growled at him, laughing.

**Author's Note:**

> Going to be honest here, I guessed a possible route across America and the rough time-frames between stopping points from New England to California. I read online it takes about 4-5 days driving for 8-9 hours each day to cross the States. I imagined they would go cross-country as well. Going to claim creative license on this one - living in Britain skews what my idea of a 'long drive' is.


End file.
